My name is Lou DiRienzo and I’m a deputy chief inspector at Postal Inspection Service headquarters in Washington, DC. I’ve been with the organization for 22 years.
After serving in the Army and graduating from Penn State, I decided to work as a police officer and then go to law school.
I was a police officer for seven years in Lancaster, PA. I really enjoyed police work.
I set my sights on becoming a postal inspector because of their reputation in the law enforcement community and their mission. My uncle, a letter carrier, told me being an inspector would be a great job.
After I was appointed as an inspector, I was assigned to the Pittsburgh Division. I later worked assignments in the Philadelphia Division and at the Justice Department, where I focused on complex mail fraud cases.
I worked on consumer fraud cases involving fraudsters who preyed on vulnerable victims. I found it very fulfilling to bring those criminals to justice.
I eventually earned my law degree, which opened the door for me to be appointed as an inspector-attorney and eventually chief counsel.
Now as a deputy chief inspector, I report to Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale. I have four groups that report to me: security and crime prevention; our forensic lab; our training academy; and communications, governance and strategy.
My main job is making sure each group’s work is in line with the goals of the Postal Service, the Inspection Service and the chief.
The Inspection Service has an incredibly broad mission compared to other federal law enforcement agencies. We enforce mail crimes ranging from illegal narcotics trafficking to identity theft to money laundering, and so much more.
We also have a large corporate security element. We protect the Postal Service brand as well as its 35,000 facilities and 640,000 employees.
When I think of my career here, I remember taking on the role of inspector because I wanted to be a federal agent. But I had no idea of the scope of this organization.
It’s unique and challenging. And it keeps me engaged.
“On the Job,” a column on individual employees and their contributions to the Postal Service, appears regularly in Link.
